3 Way House by Naf Architect & Design

This Tokyo house by Japanese studio Naf Architect & Design has a climbing wall and ladders, in case the owners get bored of using the stairs.

The seven-metre climbing wall is positioned in a courtyard at the centre of the house and leads up to rooms on the first floor, then on to a roof terrace hidden behind a two-metre-high parapet.

Ladders and staircases also connect the two floors, which together accommodate bedrooms and living spaces for a family of four.

We're noticing a trend for climbing walls in Japanese houses - see another one here. See all our stories about climbing walls here.

Photography is by Toshiyuki Yano.

Here's some more information from the architects:

3way House

A house which has three means of vertical transportation; climbing wall, ladders and stairs. The house is located in a residential area where old and new buildings stand intermingled and buildings are rebuilt to be taller than 7 meters high, as the vicinity has become "district where minimum limit of the building height is 7 meters above ground."

The client is a family of a couple and two children, and they wanted a traditional wooden house from the start. The structure of the building is a traditional two-storey wooden house with deck roof whose rooftop is surrounded by two-meter parapet to satisfy the regulation of minimum height of the district. The rooftop is like a room without ceiling surrounded by two-meter wall.

We've given three means of vertical transportation to this building of three layers; first floor, second floor and rooftop. The climbing wall leads from porch to the rooftop via courtyard; ladders go up from living room through an opening to hobby room; stairs start from kitchen to sun room where laundry is hung. These vertical paths of flow are also passages of sunlight and air, which contribute to creating a sunny and airy indoor environment. Up on the rooftop, roofs of neighbours can be seen stretching far. As the renovation of the vicinity goes on, the view from the rooftop will change with growing number of rooftops.

When we are on the ground, it is hard to realize the relations with neighbours up on the rooftop. We aimed to create versatile living space which allows more opportunities to socialize with neighbours while multiplying family pleasure by closely connecting the ground and rooftop with three means of transportation.

Name of the Project: 3way House
Location: Adach ward, Tokyo
Category: detached house
Zoning use district: -
Fire protection specification: -
Structure: Wood construction
Number of stories: 2 stories above ground